Trailers for use with moving vehicles such as bicycles are known in the art. Such trailers can be used for carrying small children and other belongings. It is important that the trailer be easy to open and close and that it fold in a compact way so that it can be readily stored or moved in the trunk or confines of another vehicle, such as a car.
An example of such a trailer is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,571 issued Jul. 13, 1999 to Bell, which is incorporated herein by reference. This patent teaches a trailer having a folding frame which is readily collapsible and easy to manufacture. The trailer has a pair of wheels and the frame is provided with a tow bar, which is movable from a first position extending forwardly of the frame to thereby be coupled to a bicycle (or other vehicle) for towing, to a second position extending rearwardly of the frame where it serves as a handle so that the trailer can be pushed from behind, for example by a runner.
Such trailers have most of the components of a self-supporting vehicle, for example a so-called “jogger” which can be driven like a high speed stroller by a person running or jogging. However, like a conventional trailer, this trailer is supported on only two wheels and therefore does not have the ability to be self-supporting. In the trailer mode the front end of the trailer is supported by the towing vehicle which holds the free end of the tow bar, and thus the front of the trailer frame, at an elevated position. When pushing the trailer, the runner must apply a constant downward force to the handle (i.e. the tow bar in the handle position) in order to maintain the front of the trailer frame at an elevated position, and manually maintain the handle at a relatively stable attitude for the comfort of the occupant. This can interfere with the proper running or jogging form and makes the trailer more difficult to control.
It is possible to attach a third stabilizing wheel to the frame, to make the trailer self-supporting and thereby convert it to a stroller or jogger-type vehicle. However, one of the benefits of such a trailer—and particularly the trailer described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,571—is that the trailer is compact and easily transportable. Thus, it is counterproductive to require the user to tote substantial additional or loose parts, and tools for their assembly and installation, in order to have the ability to convert the trailer to a stroller or jogger.
It would accordingly be advantageous to be able to readily convert the trailer into a self-supporting vehicle such as a stroller or jogger, without having to tote excessive parts and without requiring tools or any particular level of mechanical skill.